Employers’ responsibilities to workers regarding the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) are changing from 6 April 2022.
The Personal Protective Equipment at Work (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (PPER 2022) were laid before Parliament on 10 January 2022.
The PPER 2022 amend the current Regulations to extend employers’ and employees’ duties in respect of PPE to a wider group of workers.
HSE has prepared interim guidance explaining the changes.
This guidance will help employers identify whether they and their workforce may be impacted by the changes and explains what employers may need to do in preparing for the changes.
|
HSE’s Working Minds campaign aims to increase awareness of work-related stress, anxiety and depression and the impact this can have on the mental health of employees.
Our campaign partner, Mates in Mind, has reported that its recent research revealed a third of construction workers now suffer with anxiety and that within the small, micro and sole trader businesses in construction workplace stress is being felt like never before.
Read the Mates in Mind news report into the research and a recent blog from its Managing Director, Sarah Meek.
Visit HSE’s Working Minds website to find out more about how to protect your workers, reduce sickness absence and improve productivity.
We have tailored advice and resources to prevent work-related stress in construction and help support good mental health on site, including our Construction Talking Toolkit aimed at small businesses who want to be proactive in addressing this issue.
|
HSE is asking demolition and construction firms to double-down on thorough planning, management and control of demolition and refurbishment work to avoid incidents and ill health amongst their workers and the public.
This follows a series of HSE prosecutions in the past year involving severe injuries and fatalities as a result of poorly planned demolition work.
One such incident involved the joint HSE and Hampshire Police investigation into the tragic death of a 64 year old worker killed when a domestic garage wall collapsed on him, after a contractor operating a digger failed to put an exclusion zone in place whilst carrying out demolition work. This resulted in a lengthy prison sentence for the builder concerned.
HSE’s Chief Inspector of Construction Sarah Jardine said: “Incidents caused by poor planning and risk management can have substantial human costs that are felt for many years by the victims and their families.”
For further information, read this press release.
Our website has specific health and safety guidance on the key issues involved with demolition work.
The UK government announced on 19 January that, with immediate effect, people are no longer asked to work from home. From 27 January face coverings and the NHS COVID Pass will no longer be required by law in England.
The latest GOV.UK guidance has information on this and also on measures that remain.
There is separate advice for Scotland and Wales.
HSE’s latest advice on keeping workplaces safe will help you to continue to work safely during the pandemic.
You can also get the latest government guidance for construction and other outdoor work.
Keeping the UK Building Safely (KUBS2): Covid transmission risk survey
Following our previous request on behalf of the Thomas Ashton Institute (TAI) to complete an important survey - Keeping the UK Building Safely: Covid transmission risk (KUBS2) – to help to provide increased understanding about preventing workplace transmission of COVID-19 in the construction sector, this is a reminder that the survey closes on 31 January 2022.
The survey, which is anonymous and will be treated confidentially, should only take around 10 minutes to complete.
Participate in the survey
Annual injury and ill-health statistics for 2020/21 published
HSE has recently published statistics that cover work-related ill health and non-fatal workplace injuries in the 2020/21 period.
Our statistics website provides detailed commentary on the figures and is supported by:
There are a range of upcoming virtual and in-person training courses and events organised by HSE.
Find out more and see the full schedule.
Upcoming courses and events include:
Asbestos
Links for further guidance and information: Licensable work with asbestos
Demolition
Links for further guidance and information: Demolition
Excavations
Links for further guidance and information: Excavations
Electricity
Links for further guidance and information: Electricity – underground cables
Work at height – Fragile surfaces
Links for further guidance and information: Fragile surfaces
Work at height – Use of ladders
Links for further guidance and information: Assessing all work at height
Work at height – Mobile tower scaffolds
Links for further guidance and information: Tower scaffolds
Develop a career at HSE and help to protect lives.
As the national occupational health and safety regulator, HSE offers a range of rewarding career opportunities.
View a list of our latest vacancies.
|
